The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1887-11-18

not Sc ner appfoarns anu neE cuiAo Wnh 10y
ing 10 her playmate; "Yon good for nothing
little scamp, you come right into the house
this minute or ] win beat you till the skin
comes of. y The mother broke In, saying:
'sWhy, Lizzie, am surprised TO hear you
taIk Ike that 70 any onein "oh," said the
child, II was only playing, and he Is my
little boy, and am scoiding him as you did
me this morning. Children are apt to be
echoes Of their parents.
Safer In Bethlehem manger among cattle
and camsls, with gentle Mary to watch the
little Innocent, than the most extravagant
nursery over which Gods star OF peace never
stood The trapper extinguishes the flames
on the prairie by fighting fire with fire, but
you cannot, with the fire Of your own dispo-
sition, put out the fire Of child's disposition
Yet we may rush to the other extreme and
rule children by too great leniency. The sur
| geon Is not unkind because notwithstanding
| the resistance Of his patient he goes straight
| on with firm hand and unfaltering heart TO
take of the gangrene Nor Is the parent less
afIectionate and faithful because, notwith-
standing all violent remonstrances on the
part of the child, he with the firmest disci-
pline advances TO the cutting of of its evil
| inclinations The Bible says: "Chasten thy
son while there Is hope, and let not thy soul
spare for his crying" Childish rage UNI
checked win, after q while, become hurri-
cane. Childish petulance win grow up into
misanthropy. Childish rebellion win develop
| into the lawlessness OF riot and sedition. II
you would ruin the child, dance to his every
caprice and stuff him with confectionery.
/ Before you are aware Of it that boy. Of 9
years win 60 down the street, cigar In his
mouth and ready on any corner with his COM
rades to compare pugilistic attachments. The
parent who allows the child to grow up with
| out ever having learned the great duty of
obedience and submission has prepared cup
Of burning gall for his own lips and appal-
ling destruction for his descendant. Remem-
Der Eli and his two sons, Hophni and
Phinehas.
A second error prevalent In the training Of
children is q laying out Of theory and fol-
lowing it without arranging it to varieties OF
disposition In every family you viii find
striking differences Of temperament. This
child Is too timid, and that too bold, and
this too miserly, and that too wasteful; this
too inactive, and that too boisterous. Now,
the farmer who should plant corn and wheat
and turnips in Just the same way, then put
them through one hopper and grind them
in the same MILL would not be so much
of a fool as the parents who should attempt
to discipline and educate all their children in
the same manner. 1t needs a skillful hand to
adjust these checks and balances. The rigidity
| Of government which is necessary to hold in
this impetnous nature would utterly crush
that flexile disposition, while the gentle re-
proof that would suffice for the latter would,
when used on the former, be like attempting
to hold champing Bucephalus with reins of
goSsamer. God gives US in the disposition of
| 10 OIlohf fO in
him, and, as God in the mental structure
of our children indicates what mode of
training is the best, He also indicates in
the disposition their future occupation. Do
not write down that child as dull because it
may not now be as brilliant as your other
children or as those of your neighbor. Some
of the mightiest men and women of the CEN
turies had a stupid childhood. Thomas
Aquinas was called at school 1.-THE dumb OK
but afterwards demonstrated his sanctified
genius and was called "the angel of the
schools" and "the eagle of Brittany" Kind
ness and patience with child will conquer
almost anything, and they are virtues so
Christlike that they are inspiring to look at.
John Wesley's kiss of child on the pulpit
stairs turned Matthias Joyce from a profit
gate into flaming evangel.
The third error prevalent in the training
of children is the one sided development of
either the physical, intellectual or moral ma
ture at the expense of the others Those, for
instance, greatly mistake who, while they
are faithful in the intellectual and moral
culture of children, forget the physical. The
bright eyes half quenched by night study,
the cramped chest that comes from too much
bending over school desks, the weak side re-
sulting from Submarines of habit, pale
Al. 10, 80
children attest that physical development
does not always go along with intellectual
and moral How do you suppose all those
treasures of knowledge the child gets will
look in shattered casketa And how much
will you give for the wealthieSt cargo when
it is put into leaky ship2 How can that
bright, sharp blade Of a childs attachments
be welded without any handle? What are
brains worth without shoulders to carry
them? What is a child with magnificent
mind but an exhausted body7 Better that q
young man of 81 go forth into the world
without knowing A from 2 If he have
health of body and energy to push his
way Through the world than at 81
to enter upon active life, his head
stuffed with Socrates, and Herodotus, and
Bacon, and La Place, but no physical force
to sustain him in the shock of earthly con
dictS. From this infinite blunder Of parents
how many have come out in life with a
genius that could have piled Ossa upon Pelion
and mounted upon them to scale the heavens,
and have laid down painting with physical
exhaustion before a mole hillf They who
might have thrilled senates and marshaled
armies and startled the world with the shock
OF their scientific batteries have passed their
lives in picking up prescriptions for indiges-
ton. They owned all the thunderbolts of
Jupiter, but could not get out of their rock
ing chair to use them. George Washington
in early life was a poor speller, and spelled
hat h-a-double-t, and q ream of paper he
spelled "rheam; !" but he knew enough to spell
out the independence of this country from
foreign oppression. The knowledge of the
schools is important, but there are other
things quite as important.
Just as great is the wrong done when the
mind is cultivated and the heart neglected.
The youth of this day are seldom denied any
scholarly attainments Our schools and
seminaries are ever growing in efficiency, and
the students are conducted through all the
realms Of philosophy, and art, and language,
and mathematics. The most hereditary OBJ
tuseness gives way before the onslaught of
adroit instructors. But there Is develop
ment of infinite importance which mathe-
MATES and the dead languages cannot affect.
The more mental power the more capacity
for evil unless coupled with religious re-
straint, You discover what terrible power
for evil unsanctified genius possesses when
you see Scaiger with his scathing denuncia.
tions assaulting the best men of his time,
and Blount and Spinoza and Bolingbroke
leading their hosts Of followers into the
all consuming fires of skepticism and inf
deity. Whether knowledge is q mighty
good or an unmitigated evil depends upon
which course it takes The river rolling on
between round banks makes all the valley
laugh with golden wheat and rank grass, and
catching hold the wheel Of mill and factory,
whirls it with great Industries But, break
| ing away from restraints and dashing over
banks In red wrath, 1t washes away harvests
from their moorings and makes the valleys
shrink with the catastrophe. Fire in the fur
mace heats the house or drives the steamer;
but, uncontrolled, warehouses go down in
awful crash before 1t, and in few hours half
q city will lie in black ruin, walls and towers
and churches and monuments. You must
accompany the education of the intellect
with the education Of the heart, or you are
rousing up within your child an energy which
win be blasting and terrific. Better wicked
Ounce than wicked philosopher.
The fourth error often committed in the
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